Friends of Chitambo SCIO: registered charity number SCO44337
Our primary aims are to support health projects, including the hospital, ambulance and nurse training school. However, we also hope to be able to provide some support to other community oranisations such as the orphanage, schools, and the church, where possible.

Sunday, 26 October 2014

The celebrations were indeed the party of the year. They lived up to expectations and were a stunning success.

The day began early with around 18 exhibitors setting up their stalls before the opening ceremony at 10.30. Stalls included both commercial companies and charities/NGOs supporting a mixture of causes: health, education, enterprise etc.

Friends of Chitambo SCIO had a good vantage point, close to the entrance to the venue and we attracted a steady amount of interest, including generous donations to meet Chitambo's request for help with servicing the Centenary Ambulance.

Our Patron, Julie Davidson, was present at the event and sold copies of her book 'Looking for Mrs. Livingstone' on our stall. We also had copies of Marion Currie's book, 'Livingstone's Hospital: the Story of Chitambo', on sale alongside a variety of other items.

The Chitambo stall was 'manned' by a team of 7 Friends of Chitambo including Jo Vallis, Margaret Coull, Bea Chitambo (visiting from Leicester), Charlotte Mitchell, Nicola Boyle, Agnes Ngulube Holmes, and Mr. Chola Mwelwa (visiting from Chesterfield) (See photo of Team Chitambo below). All these volunteers gave their time willingly, selling items and encouraging donations. In addition, Mr. Mwelwa 'worked' the crowd with our donations bucket and the ultimate result was well over £300 pounds towards the requested ambulance maintenance.

We have been in direct contact with Dr. Siame, Chitambo's new (lady) Doctor-in-Charge and have passed on the good news that we are able to forward the requested amount for the ambulance repairs (£1,250) in full.

Alongside the exhibitions, were samples of the 30 Memorial scarves designed by Heriot-Watt textile students (Pictured).

The designer of the winning scarf and the 2 runners up were present to receive their awards (see photo) at the Opening Ceremony.

This took place at 10.30, in the main Auditorium for the Opening Ceremony, and included keynote speeches by key Zambian and Scottish political figures. Please see the following YouTube links. Friends of Chitambo even gets a mention in Dr. Kaunda's speech:

After a truly Zambian lunch of nshima and many great delicacies, there were Workshops on Health, Education and Enterprise. The Health Workshop was also a success, with 7 specific suggestions raised for contributing to improving Zambia's health at 50. These included, for example, exploring ways to:

Improve coordination between external health groups and the Zambian Government

Strengthen relationships between the Zambian Diaspora in Scotland and elsewhere and health contacts in Zambia

Make mobile health (mHealth) technologies more readily available an affordable to Zambian health workers

A more detailed summary will be posted in due course.

After a very stimulating day, we retreated to ready ourselves for the evening Dinner. This was a wonderful event, heralded by both African drummers and Scottish pipers. However, the greatest highlight was the Mthunzi Culture Group, a youth group visiting from Zambia, which provided a stunning display of music and dancing (see photos). They really stole the show.

There's a packed programme, including a health Workshopfeaturing top Zambian doctors talking on challenges and opportunities in Zambian healthcare at 50. This is followed by an Indaba (discussion) about what the Zambian Diaspora

and Friends of Zambia could usefully contribute. We hope to come up with one or two specific initiatives to follow up.

Questions for you:1) How can external Development groups better coordinate with the Zambian Government on healthcare delivery on the ground?2) Is a health insurance system the best way forward in terms of funding Zambian healthcare? What would that mean for the poorest elements of society, such as in remote Chitambo District villages? Please comment. We'd love to hear from you.

The
Toyota Landcruiser ambulance donated to Chitambo as a Centenary gift,
in 2008, is said to have made a real difference in terms of
getting people to hospital more quickly, in case of emergency, and
saving lives. However, 'she' is not getting any younger and our
Chitambo partners report that 'she' is now in need of repairs
amounting to 12,500 Kwachas or around £1,250. This more than
the hospital can afford. The ambulance has been lovingly
nurtured by the local driver mechanics, who have kept her going
despite the long distances and rugged terrain involved. They
would like to keep her going as long as possible but, although the
Zambian Government contributes a certain amount to ambulance
servicing, it is never enough.

One
of our stated goals, within Friends of Chitambo, is to help to
support maintenance of this ambulance. Reasons for this
are not hard to see if you watch this short Vimeo video from
Pulse, an organisation which supports better access to maternal and
child healthcare in Uganda and Zambia
(http://pulsevillagetransport.com/): https://vimeo.com/101495779

Village
Ambulances, pulled by bicycles or motor bikes, are certainly valuable
and, as the video shows, they can save lives. However, how much
more so a 'healthy' motor vehicle which can transport an expectant
mother, sick child, trauma victim or other emergency case rapidly to
hospital?

Dr.
Siame, Medical Officer in Charge at Chitambo, has forwarded the
following breakdown of costs: